In his first-ever mega outreach, Cooperation Minister Amit Shah is all set to meet representatives of cooperatives from across the country on Saturday, a move that is seen as a bid to address apprehensions about the objectives of the new ministry among the sector as well as political parties.
Since the creation of the separate Ministry of Cooperation in July, Shah has had meetings with leaders of representatives cooperative societies but the September 25 event will bring diverse groups under one roof.
Shah is expected to unveil his vision for the sector after taking over the new ministry, which was welcomed by cooperative sector in a guarded manner. Political leaders, who derive their strength from the cooperative movement, had also been critical of the move, which they saw as an attempt to tighten the screws on the sector.
“This conference would have representatives from every sector of the cooperative sector. Fisheries, dairy, weaver, sugar, urban co-operative banks, fertiliser co-operatives,” Dilip Sanghani, chairman of the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), told DH.
The day-long National Cooperative Conference, scheduled to take place at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, will see participation from 2,200 representatives from the block, village, district, state and national levels. The NCUI expects lakhs of representatives to join the meeting virtually.
“Those who have objections to the new ministry will continue to have them. But, the minister will help clear doubts and give a positive message to the sector,” Sanghani said when asked about concerns expressed about the new ministry.
Sanghani said the theme of the seminar is Sahkarita se Samruddhi (Progress through Cooperation) and the objective is to bring leaders and delegates of cooperatives from the village level to the national level under one roof to boost the cooperative movement in the country.
“We expect the minister to spell out measures to further strengthen the cooperatives sector and the role it can play in job creation,” said Sanghani, a four-term Lok Sabha member from Amreli in Gujarat.
According to officials, the Ministry of Cooperation was expected to provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country.
The new ministry was also expected to work for improving ‘ease of doing business’ for cooperatives by streamlining processes to enable the development of Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS).
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